American football “touching down” in Britain

The expansion of American Football in the British sports space has advanced significantly in terms of media production and fan development in comparison to domestic British leagues. Subsequently, the spectacle connected with the NFL product increases the interest of British sports fans more than the alternative of British domestic amateur teams and competitions. This paper examines British sports fans experience and perception surrounding American Football’s viability and expansion to Britain. A qualitative study in the format of semi-structured interviews was conducted on 12 British sports fans to understand their awareness and perceptions of American Football’s viability and expansion to Britain. The analysis of the data revealed a number of themes in its attempt to immerse itself within British sporting culture. First, to maximise its expansion into the British sport space and to increase its longevity it needs to prioritise the internal aspects such as increased grassroots opportunities and improved exposure in schools to increase knowledge, awareness and participation of the sport. Second, that strategic partnerships with traditional British sports and new innovative global strategies such as the NFL International series have increased awareness and interest to strengthen its position in the British sporting marketplace. Third, that American Football is not just a game in single isolation and for each country it descends onto it conveys various values and ideologies relating to American dominant culture in a form cultural imperialism. This study shows there is place for American Football within the British sports space from the perspective of British sports fans